Blah but busy week.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, folks. I've been extremely busy on something non-reading, and have been having trouble with gmail, that's frustrating me. But I've gotten a little done. I hope to have a review up before the end of tomorrow, at least *knock on wood*.  I did get a chance to get one article up at the examiner, though. It's not much, but if you'd like to take a peek, it's here.

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Melissa Marr's Fragile Eternity

Fragile Eternity
by Melissa Marr
Book Three in the Wicked Lovely Series
(my review copy was borrowed from a friend's personal library)

I finally finished this one, and so thought I'd share my review with you.

Fragile Eternity is the second volume in Melissa Marr’s best selling, very popular Wicked Lovely Young Adult fantasy series. The story concerns Aislinn’s continuing adjustment to being once-mortal, now Faery, and Summer Queen to Keenan, the Summer king. But trouble’s brewing as the Dark Faery Bananach insists on war, between the Summer Courts, the Winter Courts, and the Dark Court of which she is a part. Meanwhile, human Seth is still trying to come to grips with his love for Aislinn, and having to share her with Keenan, who wishes to have more than just a professional relationship with Aislinn, for the good of the faery of the Summer Court.

Despite Aislinn’s best efforts, and despite the warnings of his friend, the Dark King, Niall, Seth and Aislinn can’t seem to get over the fact that all Aislinn’s human friends and family are destined, as mortals, to die. And for Seth, the truth of being a mortal means one more thing: that when he’s gone, Keenan will finally have Aislinn the way he wishes.

Rumor has it, though that there is a way for Seth to bypass all this. And as the Summer and Winter Courts bickering becomes more and more intense, as summer waxes and wanes, being the good, worried sister of the Dark King that she is, Bananach takes her advantage and tells Seth exactly how he can do that. Stupid human that he is, he listens.

Will Seth get what he wants? Will Keenan? Or Bananach and Niall? What will happen as war looms? You’ll have to read to find out.

So, what did I think of it? I loved it. Well, it’s hard to believe Seth and Aislinn are only sixteen, for one (except for in certain instances that fact’s easy to forget); I think the world is entirely unique, the fairies are, as well, and the novel was very well written. I personally liked the Dark Court; Aislinn did have problems with being a fae, and I had to wonder, how could being a faery be bad? Read the book. You’ll see. ;)

However, I’ll warn you, Fragile Eternity seems to continue its plot from where Wicked Lovely left off, and really seems to rely on knowledge of that first book. So it was a little confusing at first. I had to go out and find a copy of Wicked Lovely and read a little of it, to figure out what was going on. If that’s not enough, it was harder to find, new and used, it seems. If you can find a copy, at any Borders or Barnes and Noble, you should be able to get it in their YA section, if they don’t have it, it’s so new, they can probably order it for you with no trouble. But I did have some trouble--heck, I couldn't even get it out of the library. In the end, I had to borrow this one from a good friend in order to read it, (and you know who you are and thanks for the trip to the post office for my little reading obsessions!). Yes, it’s that popular. If all else fails, there’s always Amazon. Wherever you get your copy, if you’re a fan of fantasy, faeries, urban fantasy, strange new worlds do check it out.

my grade for this one?

And I have posted this review here on the Examiner, if you care to give it a hit.

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Amy Tan visits Tampa.

This is too cool. Amy Tan's going to be in Tampa. I wrote it up for the Examiner, here. If you're in town and want to see what she's doing. I just love her work--what I've read of it. :)

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A scavenger hunt

Romance and Erotica author Tina Donahue is guest posting at Katie Babs' lovely Babbling about Books today, where she offers up thoughts on Alpha Males, and an excerpt from her new Ellora's Cave novel, Lush Velvet Nights. In addtion to that, she's also hosting a scavenger hunt. Go here to read all about it, and if you try the hunt, good luck!

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A review of Patty G. Henderson's Ximora

XIMORA
by Patty G. Henderson
Publisher: Black Car Publishing
cover design: Boulevard Photografica
Review copy provided by Patty G. Henderson.

Patty G. Henderson's latest Brenda Strange mystery novel, Ximora, sees Brenda Strange having barely recovered from the death of her lover Tina two years ago, when Tampa cop Lisa comes requesting her assistance in a murder case. Something seems to be hunting the young men in town, as two bodies have been found butchered, their bodies drained of blood, and with odd words carved into their chests in what looks like Greco-Roman letters. Lisa charges Brenda with the task of finding out what those symbols may mean; when a brief meeting with an acquaintance of Lisa’s, a history professor, gives her nothing but a cold response, it leads her into a new conflict. Add to that the news that Brenda’s grandmother has passed away, leaving her with a startling bequest: box that only she can open and the news that she is a witch, the hope of her family, it’s a little too much to bear. Especially since she only just reemerged from her grief over Tina’s death.

Who is Professor Amanda? What does she want with Lisa, and what connection does she really have to the stunning statue of the Amazon warrior Ximora that she keeps in her office? What exactly is the statue and how might it relate to the murders plaguing Tampa streets? And will Lisa and her family, in deed will Brenda, survive to really sort out what they discover? You’ll have to read to find out.

Patty G. Henderson delivers yet another intense work in her latest novel, Ximora, one that, again, as always, leaves us thrilled, and looking forward to what her creative mind might offer next! :) This one was released through Black Car Publishing, and you can find a copy at Lulu.com , or at Amazon or Barnes and Noble, of if you'd like to get it through my Amazon link over there (points to left column) that be fine too. The book is available in trade paperback and Kindle.


my rating? Five pearls.

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In my Mailbox (and other acquisitions) (6)

Well, there was just a copy of a friend's self-published book in my mailbox this week.

At the little used bookstore: Zbookz, in St. Petersburg, I picked up Book two and three of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, and Girls in Pants) by Anne Brashares
also Hide by Lisa Gardner, and Kingdoms of the Wall by Robert Silverberg. So, that's my list for this Monday.

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blah day

Have a great weekend, everyone.Me? I miffed at you know who shall not be named. But I'm hoping to have a good weekend. We plan to hit a few of the local bookstores that we never get to, anymore; so that should be pretty fun. Maybe I'll have some more new acquistions to crow about, next week. :)

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New Releases this week

Melissa Marr's Radiant Shadows released yesterday. :)
I hope those of you that get/got it, enjoy it! My review will be forthcoming, as soon as I can get to it...

Also, Meg Cabot's Runaway (the next Airhead novel). :) Y'all know how I love Meg Cabot so woohoo, here!

And Cressida Cowell's How to Cheat A Dragon's Curse (book four in the "How to Train Your Dragon" series)

And for Romance:
Amanda Quick's Burning Lamp

Oh, and my friend Anna Small has just had her first book released by Wild Rose Press. :) Congrats, Anna! Yes, I know her. In fact, she's one of my writing buddies. And I am very proud of her!

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WW28(2)

Wicked Wednesday 28 Meme courtesy of Cherry Mischievous



Wednesday wasn't a good online day for me, so ...sorry this is late.  My book for the day is Tammy Kane's debut fantasy Romance novel Breath of Fire:
P. 28:
"I will not."

Elera inclined her head.  "A kiss, then.  If you cannot resist a simple kiss, Karl, your place is not with the Mattaen."

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Kitty's House of Horrors Carrie Vaughn Book

Kitty's House of Horrors
by Carrie Vaughn
Published 2010, Grand Central Publishing
review copy provided by Grand Central Publishing

Kitty's House of Horrors sees Kitty talked into participating in a Reality Television show, with various other supernatural folk. She's sharing a cabin in Montana with some vampires, a witch, a magician, two psychics, a were-seal Alaskan legistator, and a (not supernatural at all) Skeptic. Though she hates being dragged into television appearances, Kitty agrees to do this, and leaves civilation, and even takes the helm of some of the crew's scheduled "reality tv related activities" for lack of a better word. Then, the vampire's assistant is killed and Kitty's worry kicks in, only to get worse when she and her new friends find most of the production crew dead. What is going on? Who is out to get them? And will they all make it out alive--or not? You'll have to read this one to find out!

Having only read two others in this series, I can’t say whether or not Kitty's House of Horrors leads off the previous title well. I will warn you there are some surprising spoilers, but nothing that will ruin the book for a new reader. That said, Kitty's House of Horrors is another well done addition to the series—of course. How could it not be? And I’m glad the fine folks at Grand Central sent it my way. I have to be honest though, if there was one thing I didn’t like about the book, it was the Reality TV premise—but Ms. Vaughn pulled it off well, and I enjoyed the story more than I thought I might when I first read the blurb. So, if you’re curious to see what Kitty gets into now, and how this whole thing plays out, the novel came out in January, and it should be available at any bookstore local to you, I don't doubt, or as ever, online at Amazon.

There's a version of this review up at my Examiner pages, if you'd like to give it a hit. Thanks, and I hope you've enjoyed this review.

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Tuesday book trailers

I found, via Romance In the Back Seat, this nifty idea of sharing the week's favorite book trailers. So, here's a few I've found.

Kelley Armstrong's the Awakening





Melissa Marr's Fragile Eternity

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In my Mailbox (again)

Well it's that time of the week again... just another Manic Monday... (and other such great songs devoted to this icky week day. ;)) So, thanks to the Story Siren for the Mailbox Monday idea, here's what I found in my mailbox as of the week ending Sunday April 18:

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn (thanks to the folks at Harper Collins for sending me a copy!)
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Thanks, Amy for telling me I'd won this one from you!)

And...Did I mention Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr (thanks to Ms. Marr's publicists for my reading copy).

Oh, and Dawn of Eternity (E-book) by Kylie Jordan (from the fine folks at Cerridwen Press).

Plus I borrowed three more from my best friend, that came in the past week. *waves to her* So I'll get to all of these, in as fast a time as possible. :) Thanks to everyone who sent them.

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Blog hop (2.1)

Because I found one more on the blog hop I wanted to share:

Lori's Reading Corner
She has some great reccomendations for Mystery--and this is good, because I've started reading more of that genre...well, romantic suspense, really but still....

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